Protocol
Comparison
How does DUADP compare to every other AI agent discovery and communication protocol? A transparent, feature-by-feature breakdown across discovery, identity, trust, interoperability, and governance.
DUADP
DNS for AI Agents
Federated mesh via DNS + WebFinger + gossip protocol
Open Standard Agents / BlueFly.io
MCP Registry
Model Context Protocol Hub
Centralized registry with curated server listings
Anthropic
Google A2A
Agent-to-Agent Protocol
HTTP-based agent cards with task lifecycle management
Google DeepMind
AGNTCY / ANS
Agent Name Service
DNS-based naming registry for agent endpoints
Cisco / AGNTCY
Head-to-Head Comparison
18 features across 5 categories evaluated against the four leading AI agent protocols.
| Feature | DUADP | MCP Registry | Google A2A | AGNTCY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | ||||
| DNS-based bootstrap | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| WebFinger resolution | ✓ | — | — | — |
| .well-known endpoints | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Federated cross-node search | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Gossip protocol propagation | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Identity | ||||
| Persistent agent identity (DID) | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Global Agent ID (GAID) | ✓ | — | — | Partial |
| Cryptographic signing | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Trust | ||||
| Trust tiers | 5 tiers | — | — | — |
| Cedar policy authorization | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Real-time revocation | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Supply chain attestation | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Interop | ||||
| Protocol-agnostic (MCP, A2A, REST) | ✓ | MCP only | A2A only | Partial |
| MCP tool discovery | 17 tools | ✓ | — | — |
| Agent-to-Agent communication | Via bridge | — | ✓ | — |
| Governance | ||||
| NIST AI RMF alignment | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Formal specification | OSSA spec | MCP spec | A2A spec | Draft |
| Decentralized (no single owner) | ✓ | — | — | Partial |
Why DUADP Is Different
DUADP is not another communication protocol — it is the discovery layer that sits beneath MCP, A2A, and any other agent protocol. These are the capabilities no other protocol provides.
Federation + Trust Tiers
DUADP is the only protocol that combines federated mesh discovery with cryptographic trust tiers. MCP Registry is centralized. A2A has no trust model. AGNTCY has naming but no trust verification.
Cedar Authorization
Every agent action is pre-authorized via AWS Cedar — formally verified, WASM-compiled policy evaluation in <100ms. No other protocol in this space offers declarative, verifiable authorization.
Protocol-Agnostic
DUADP is a discovery layer, not a communication protocol. It works with MCP, A2A, REST, gRPC, or any custom protocol. MCP Registry only indexes MCP servers. A2A only speaks A2A.
NIST Compliance
DUADP directly maps to NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 controls and the AI Risk Management Framework. No other agent discovery protocol addresses federal compliance requirements.
Complementary, Not Competing
DUADP does not replace MCP or A2A — it makes them discoverable. Think of DUADP as DNS: it resolves who and where, while MCP and A2A define how agents communicate.
DUADP + MCP
DUADP discovers MCP servers across organizational boundaries. 17 native MCP tools ship with the@bluefly/duadpSDK for seamless integration.
npx @anthropic-ai/sdk mcp add duadp \ -- npx @bluefly/duadp mcp
DUADP + Google A2A
DUADP publishes agent cards as OSSA manifests, making them discoverable via federation. A2A handles the task lifecycle, DUADP handles finding the right agent to delegate to.
# Resolve an A2A agent via DUADP agent://example.com/agents/summarizer → A2A endpoint + capabilities
DUADP + AGNTCY
Both use DNS-based approaches, but DUADP adds gossip federation, trust tiers, and Cedar authorization on top. They can coexist as complementary naming and discovery layers.
# DNS TXT record (both protocols) _duadp.example.com TXT "v=duadp1 ..." _agent.example.com TXT "v=ans1 ..."
Ready to Explore?
Install the SDK, spin up a node, or explore the live federation network.